Baltimore and Ohio Railroad - 1880's-90's dated Railway Stock Certificate

Railroad Stock. Vignette of a train. Large square stock. This type is very scarce!!! Also Available Unissued for a lesser price. Please inquire if interested. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting marks B&O, BO) was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from the city of Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to continue to compete for trade with trans-Appalachian settlers with the newly constructed Erie Canal (which served New York City), another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania (which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (which connected to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., although it never reached Ohio), and the James River Canal, which directed traffic toward Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. At first, the B&O was located entirely in the state of Maryland, its original line extending from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook (opened in 1834). There it connected with Harper's Ferry (by boat, then by the Wager Bridge) across the Potomac into Virginia, and also with the navigable Shenandoah River. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad